The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba by Chanel Cleeton-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date May 4, 2021

A feud rages in Gilded Age New York City between newspaper tycoons William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer. When Grace Harrington lands a job at Hearst’s newspaper in 1896, she’s caught in a cutthroat world where one scoop can make or break your career, but it’s a story emerging from Cuba that changes her life.

Unjustly imprisoned in a notorious Havana women’s jail, eighteen-year-old Evangelina Cisneros dreams of a Cuba free from Spanish oppression. When Hearst learns of her plight and splashes her image on the front page of his paper, proclaiming her, “The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba,” she becomes a rallying cry for American intervention in the battle for Cuban independence.

With the help of Marina Perez, a courier secretly working for the Cuban revolutionaries in Havana, Grace and Hearst’s staff attempt to free Evangelina. But when Cuban civilians are forced into reconcentration camps and the explosion of the USS Maine propels the United States and Spain toward war, the three women must risk everything in their fight for freedom.

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REVIEW:THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL IN CUBA by Chanel Cleeton is an historical and fictionalized account of three women during the 1896-1898  Cuban revolution, and the prelude to the Spanish-American war.

Told from three first person perspectives- twenty five year old American journalist, Grace Harrington, Cuban courier/ revolutionary Marina Sandoval, and nineteen year old, Cuban heiress Evangelina Cisneros, following three intersecting paths THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL IN CUBA takes liberty with historical fact blending fiction into a story line where three women will change the course of history.

Based in fact, Cuban heiress Evangelina Cisneros, the niece of the former president of the Cuban Republic, is imprisoned on trumped up charges for refusing the advances of Colonel Berriz. Hoping to secure the release of her father, Evangelina finds herself caught between Berriz and prison, opting for prison as the lesser of two evils. When American newspaper giant William Hearst hears of our heroine’s plight, he sets into motion a rescue mission that will change the course of history, rescuing a woman he comes to call The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba.

Meanwhile, Marina Sandoval, and her husband Mateo are sympathetic to the revolutionary cause but shortly after Mateo leaves to fight on the front lines, Marina, her daughter Isabella, and her mother-in-law Luz, are sent to a reconcentration camp, where Marina and her family will struggle to survive. Cleaning laundry for the rich and powerful, Marina will quickly discover that she is of more use as a messenger, couriering important documents and notes for the people working to help make a better Cuba. One of Marina’s final acts of defiance is to courier notes between Evangelina and the revolutionary sympathisers, as they prepare to rescue the imprisoned heiress.

Back in America, twenty-five year old journalist Grace Harrington, desperate to work for Joseph Pulitzer, reluctantly agrees to spy on William Hearst, Pulitzer’s competition in the world of journalism, a task that involves working for Hearst, and researching the events in the Republic of Cuba. As the revolution in Cuba begins to take on a life of its’ own, Grace finds herself up close and personal with sympathetic supporters in America, supporters that will soon include the man with whom she will fall in love.

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL IN CUBA is a complex, detailed, revealing and intriguing story blending fact and fiction into a romanticized version of revolutionary events. Chanel Cleeton reveals some of the atrocities that the prisoners and those in the reconcentration camps had to endure, including the rampant disease and deaths for those struggling to survive. The premise was real and inviting; the characters were sympathetic and captivating. An entertaining and powerful story, THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL IN CUBA is a fascinating and sensational tale of tragedy and survival.

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy